Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Obama Gets Away with Scandal

Liberal Bill Scher brags that “Obama, unlike all of his second-term predecessors in the last 40 years, has not been knocked off course by scandal." Scher gratuitously calls Hurricane Katrina George W. Bush’s “scandal,” placing that natural disaster alongside Nixon’s Watergate, Reagan’s Iran-Contra (by the way, a scandal with no lasting impact), and Bill Clinton’s Monica Lewinsky.

Scher adds,

Obama . . . mastered the art of scandal management, while his Republican opponents lost credibility by transparently politicizing every investigation. . . Republicans never learned how to calibrate their reactions. Instead of following the facts before drawing conclusions, they proclaim the worst—and then fail to prove their allegations. That’s why the pursuits of wrongdoing in Fast and Furious, Solyndra, the IRS audits and Benghazi have all fizzled.

“mastered the art of scandal management”! That’s one way to describe total and complete stonewalling of Republican and independent inspector generals’ efforts within the departments to unearth the truth about genuine scandals in “Fast and Furious, Solyndra, the IRS audits and Benghazi.” And that doesn’t even cover scandals in the Veterans Administration, the Secret Service, Homeland Security (TSA and lack of border enforcement), State Department (visas), the General Services Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency, along with White House suppression of intelligence agency reports on actual al Qaeda and ISIS threats.

Of course, “mastery” of “scandal management” benefits hugely from legacy media cooperation; a non-stop effort to play down negative reporting on the Obama administration. Keeping Democrats in power overrides the press’s historic responsibility to -- whatever the party in power -- “afflict the comfortable.” No, by 2016 and now in late-stage permanent government corruption, it’s all about hanging onto power.

Doubt me? Look then at the scary story of Dinesh D’Souza, as told byNational Review conservative writer Andrew McCarthy. The story, “part memoir, part polemic, part prescription, and part Kafka,” in MaCarthy’s words is “frightening because it is so verifiably true. . .one of the grossest abuses of power by this lawless administration.”

Obama’s team prosecuted D’Souza for a campaign-finance offense. D’Souza’s Dartmouth classmate was waging a futile campaign against incumbent U.S. senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). Instead of time, D’Souza provided financial support, going above the personal maximum of $10,000 by making two other friends nominal contributors, thereby exposing himself to a felony punishable by two years’ imprisonment plus a large fine.

Yet few actually get prosecuted for this offense, i.e., the Obama 2008 campaign’s millions of dollars in illicit contributions were settled with an administrative fine. And when a case is pursued criminally, it’s usually due to an expected quid pro quo, not for helping a friend. Furthermore, D’Souza had no prior criminal record.

But D’Souza had made himself an enemy of a vengeful and powerful Obama. During the president’s 2012 reelection bid, D’Souza released the documentary film “2016: Obama’s America.” The film was extraordinarily successful and for that reason, drew a strong White House rebuke.

Election over, Obama’s Justice Department went after D’Souza in a vindictive manner that alarmed two legends: Harvard’s Alan Dershowitz and New York City defense lawyer Benjamin Brafman, who first believed D’Souza was paranoid, but took his case and ended up convinced D’Souza had been railroaded.

After D’Souza pled guilty — rather than risk imprisonment — Justice responded by asking for 16 months in prison. The Clinton-appointed judge subjected D’Souza to a tongue-lashing and almost sent him to prison before agreeing to eight months of halfway-house confinement.

McCarthy called the sentence irrational except as a form of abuse. Had D’Souza been given the 10-to-16-month sentence, he’d have gone to a minimum-security prison camp with other low-level offenders. By contrast, a halfway house is a way station for serious criminals: murderers, rapists, gang-bangers, drug traffickers.

When D’Souza arrived at his “halfway house” in a rundown part of San Diego, the first order of business was a mandatory class on how to avoid being sexually assaulted. In the end, D’Souza treated his experience as an opportunity to learn. A re-educated D'Souza now views his political adversaries as enemies and criminals rather than worthy opponents.

D’Souza understands progressives to be engaged in a massive scheme to “steal America,” including all its wealth and traditions. Incoherent ideas are a Machiavellian ploy, a pretense to morality (because the public expects it) that camouflages the acquisition of power needed to rob the public, a kleptocracy, as we have repeatedly said.

The progressive grip on power — crony capitalism, discretion over prosecutorial decisions, promotion of favored factions — robs Americans of economic opportunity and subjects them to governmental abuse. Progressives proceed in the manner of the gangs D’Souza learned about first-hand, moving from plan through recruitment and rationalization and ending with cover-up.

To D’Souza, America throughout history flourished because it was an anti-theft society: freedom married to protection of private property, unleashing creativity, entrepreneurship, and unprecedented prosperity. The progressive critique of that society is simply a “con” designed to seize achievers’ wealth and power.

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About Me

Former Hawaii State House Republican Leader, State and City economic development executive, and U.S. Foreign Service Officer stationed in East Asia and Washington D.C. Holds Ph.D. in Public Affairs (Princeton). This blog has recorded over 75,000 views.